Escape from Dominaria
by Jodah Archmage Eternal
Summary: A young man was chosen by the Oracle en-Vec and was brought to Dominaria for a unknown purpose. All he know is that the Phyrexian invasion is coming and Dominaria is a dangerous place. He must do everything he can to escape this plane.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: Dominaria Awaits 

_Dear Journal, _

_Ahhhhh!!! I'm going mad here in this wretched city! I hate sleeping on a cold wooden bed, eating strange foods, and having to learn about magic day-in and day-out. Well, the part about learning magic isn't so bad. It does get tedious when Master Angelica explained the various theories of magic. Sometimes, I wish I could tell her that I know all the theories already from reading the many Magic: the Gathering books, and I also know more about Dominaria than she could ever imagine. She babbles on and on about how we should prepare for the day when Phyrexia decided to invade Dominaria and we should not let it destroy our new home like they destroyed Serra's Realm. I know too well about the Phyrexian invasion, but what I fear is I will still be in Dominaria when it happens. If I remember correctly, the Magic book said that the invasion will happen in the year 4205 A.R. which is only nine years from now. What's worst is…damn, my roommate will be here soon. That's it for now journal. _

_Josh Mitchell _

The heaven was clear of all clouds and the wind was blowing a soft breeze through Josh's hair. On a nice day like this, he normally go for a jog and then return home to get ready for work. However, on this day his thoughts are all on his roommates, Jason and Jared, who mysteriously disappeared five days ago. Josh and Jared have been friends since they started college together. And through a game of "Magic: the Gathering," they became friends with Jason. 

During Josh's junior year, his mom passed away. He could no longer afford his rent and stayed in college with the salary of his part-time job. It was Jason's idea that all three of them should rent a house together to save money. Jason being afraid that his friends would not accept the offer, he even offer to pay their first three months rent. College life is rough for poor college students like them so Josh and Jared readily agreed to live together. All of them were avid magic players and they each have their own style of play. Jason can be described as a red mage, for he played with a hot temper and likes to do direct damage. Jared's style is the style of an opportunist. He likes using blue magic to pull off tricks and he only attacks when the time is right. Josh is the only one in the group who never really planned ahead. He just used whatever he had and go with the flow of the game. 

Through their years living together, Josh found out a lot about his friends. Jason originated from Austin, Texas and his family is filthy rich. Most of his life he had been on his own because his parents are too busy with business. Unlike any of his rich friends, he was caring and would do anything for a true friend. Jared on the other hand always carried a smile on his face. Regardless of the situation, he always seemed very calm and collected. But in truth, he was struggling with trying to work and study at the same time, but he never let it affect those around him. 

After all of them graduated, they still decided to live together and continued their weekly magic game. After two years, Josh decided he should consider moving out mainly because he wanted to have a place of his own. These guys are fun to be around, but he felt that those two had their own secret world and he was left out. He had already found another apartment, and he was going to move out at the end of the month. 

Five days ago, when Josh came home from his morning jog, he found their house a totally wreck. It looked as though a tornado tore through the inside of the house but left the outside spotless. There was a scent of fresh cut grass in the air but that scent was being overwhelmed by the odor of burned flesh. Josh started to panic and ran for the phone in the kitchen. When he arrived, he saw the most horrific image in his young life: a burned human corpse. 

The cops were quick to arrive to investigate the scene. The burned body was given to the morgue and its DNA was taken for identification. The next day, detective Wong dropped by and told Josh that the body was not his friend's, for the teeth of the creature did not resembled human teeth. Josh was confused but he was already too shocked to fully understand what the detective was saying. 

"Josh, don't worry, we'll find out what happen to your friends," said the detective. "I'll keep you informed of any changes." And he left. 

Josh was alone again. He decided it was best that he took a walk through the woods to clear his mind. The woods were very peaceful and it slowly helped him move through the shock of his friend's disappearance. 

When he finally decided to return home, the sun was already setting. He only walked a few steps when he heard a woman scream. He quickly raced toward the sound and found a lady in her late 20s being attacked. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the attacker. It resembled a man but it had long thick brown hair like a wolf covering its whole body. As he stared at the creature, he could tell it had very sharp claws, which were about to strike the lady. Josh's instinct took over as he reached for his gun and shot it. 

Never in his life would Josh even think of shooting anyone. However, the events of the past few days taught him to protect himself. The best protection he could think of is the feel of the cold metallic surface of a gun. 

Josh managed to fire three shots before the wolf man was able to react. In an instant, the creature was on top of him, biting a big chunk out of one of his legs. He tried to knock the creature off of him. The creature simply ignored his blows and slashed him from his face all the way down to his navel. The wounds were deep and Josh began to fade out of consciousness. 

********** 

The ground was not quite sand. The sky seemed like it was in constant pain for it raged endlessly. Lightning and thunder poured out continuously from a heaven that only shown black and gray. In front of Josh stood the young lady he tried to save. 

"Where am I?" he asked. "For that matter, who are you?" 

"Why ask questions that you already know the answer to?" She responded. 

"Damn you! Give me a straight answer!" He snared. 

"What place does this look like?" She asked calmly. 

"It looks like the plane of Rath to me," he chuckle. "If this is Rath, what are you suppose to be, the Oracle _en_-Vec?" 

"See, you do know the answer." She said smiling. 

Raising an eyebrow, Josh said, "Rightttt! So what can I do for you Oracle?" 

Holding his hands, she told him to remember: 

_From plains to seas, from seas to ground _

_ With Earthly might, freedom is found _

_ When death rampage, she is to blame _

_ Blue is the bridge to speak his name _

_ Northern furies melt heart of stones _

_ Your past awaits for you alone _

_ Sanity is short in those so strong _

_ Trust your friends when things are wrong _

_ Those most innocent you cannot trust _

_ For their madness begins at dusk _

_ The end you think yet it just begun _

_ A legend waits where there's no sun_

Josh awakened the instant the Oracle finished her prophecy. He did not know how long he was unconscious but when he woke up, the sun was directly over him. Then he remembered all the wounds the creature inflicted upon him and he reached for his face. To his surprise, the deep wounds weren't there on his face or his chest. With the exception of a few scratches, he was whole. He tried to concentrate on what had happened but all the yelling made it hard for him to concentrate. He was still a little groggy but when he looked at his surroundings, he was more shocked than anything. 

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," he joked while surveying the war torn battlefield in front of him. 

Never could he imagine anything remotely like the scene in front of his eyes. There were warriors in armor with big swords and other weapons slashing and killing each other. There were also fires and explosions all around him. For a minute, he thought he must have still been dreaming. That thought seized to be when an explosion knocked him five feet from where he was. The aches and pains in his whole body confirmed that this is no dream. 

His mind was still in a daze when an armor-clad warrior charged at him with fury in his eyes yelling, "DIE SERRAN! DIE!" 

In seconds, the warrior was on top of him, ready with his sword for a killing blow. Out of the sky dropped what could only be an angel. The male angel landed directly on top of the warrior knocking the warrior flat on his face. With one smooth motion, the angel drove his magna sword through the warrior's armor and into his back, killing him without mercy. 

The angel then turned to Josh and said, "wizard, if you got any spell left, now is the time to use it!" 

With a quick spin, the angel was able to decapitate the warrior that charged him from behind, but he was too slow to defect a spear heading right for him. The spear drove hard into the angel's shoulder. Josh didn't know how he got the courage to do what he did next, but he raise his hand and fire a single bullet directly into the attacker's head. 

"Impressive!!" smiled the angel and he continued to fight the horde of the charging warrior.

Josh finally managed to utter a response, "What is going on here? Who are you people?"

The male angel turned with a look of disappointment in his eyes. "Damn, we better get you out of here then." He raised his head up and yelled, "Karra! Get down here and pick up this wizard!" 

From out of the sky swooped down a beautiful female angel. She wrapped her arms around Josh's chest and lifted him into the air before he even had time to protest. A second later, the male angel was airborne following them to some unknown location. 

It took but a second for the male angel to catch up to them. It was then he looked directly at Josh and said, "We know everything might seem strange to you right now but everything is well. My name is Roran Lawbringer and the angel carrying you is my sister Karra." 

"We received word that our foes had cast a powerful spell causing amnesia among our wizards. We were ordered to remove our spellcasters from the battlefield before the spell fully takes effect. It seems you were among those being affected! We are truly sorry!" whisper Karra. 

For the first time since Josh woke up, he noticed that his clothes were not his own. He was wearing some kind of white robe with a bright sun symbol in the middle of his chest. He was about to tell the angels that he is not who they think he is but he decided against it. He remembered all the chaos and destruction he was in. If he told them he is not who they think he is, he could be drop back in to the war. He had no desire to go back in to war. So he simply remained quiet for the rest of their trip. 

Josh was taken to a camp south of the battle. There were others dressed like him and they truly looked confused. It was then that Roran receive words that the battle was over and they have won. A loud cheer went through the camp. 

"Serra! Serra! Serra!" was the chant on everyone's lips. Josh thought it would be wise to join in the cheer. 

********** 

Once the combat medics check over Josh, they ordered him to drink some herbal medicine and told him to rest. Roran and Karra dropped by to visit a few hours later. Josh knew that he needed to keep up his act if he wanted to stay alive in this strange environment. He spent the next hour asking Roran and Karra everything he can think of. Most of the information the angels gave him was useful but the most useful information was when Karra told him about this world. 

"We are about ten leagues outside of our city and about 33 leagues away from Zhalfir." Hesitantly, Karra continue, "this world is called Dominaria and we are the Serran. Our lady Serra created us long ago and we lived in peace in Serra's Realm before the Phyrexians attack our home. We were forced to flee to this world." 

That is all Josh needed to know to conclude that he must be insane. The world of Dominaria is fictional and the stories of Phyrexians are make-believe. Despite his doubts, Josh spent the next three days contemplating the possibility that this is all real. He spends the five days matching with the Serran army to their home considering what he needs to do next. 

When they finally arrived, the wizards that had amnesia were put through various memory tests. Josh was asked to recite the history of the Serran. Josh decided to take a gamble and tell of the Serran exodus from Serra's Realm exactly as how he remembered it from the "Magic: the Gathering" book. He recounted every detail of how the Weatherlight ship came to Serra's Realm and how Urza's and Barrin fought off the horde of mad angel. He even went into detail of how Urza almost died at the hand of the mad archangel, Radiant. This impressed the wizard guild. They spend the next few weeks trying to locate his family members, but Josh was not surprised then when they couldn't find anyone. It was then they decided that he might be an orphan, but regardless, he was reintroduced back into Serran society. 

The mage guild was very generous in helping him find a place to live and helping him "relearn" his magic. He was very lonely in this strange new world until Roran asked Josh to live together. Josh happily agreed mainly because he did not really know anyone at all. Roran later revealed that he just wanted to get away from his family. His father wanted him to become a warrior angel but what he really wanted to become was an archangel. His father constantly reminded him that each Serran have their place in society and they should not strive for a different position. Roran had no choice but to leave his family and try to prove his father wrong. 

In the next year, Josh spends his every waking moments studying magic. Master Angelica was very harsh on him for she expected him to know all the detail of magic already. Her intention was good Josh supposed, after all, she just wanted to jog his memory. Though the Serran were good to him, and he did learn a lot more than he ever did, he didn't like living on Dominaria. It was too primitive for his taste, being the high-tech person that he is. 

At the same time, Josh and Roran had become best friends. Roran enjoyed Josh's American idealism of always trying to be the best one can be. His way of thinking is nothing like most Serran Roran had ever known. Karra often visited her brother mainly to try and heal the rift between him and their father. Karra was content with her role as an angel of mercy. She couldn't understand why her brother would want to disobey their father and go against the teaching of Serra herself. She often thought of Josh as a bad influence. She didn't like his idealism very much, but she does admire his personal growth. In a year since Josh was rescue by her during the final battle against Kaervek's army, Josh's magical skill had grown exponentially. She often wondered what secrets he might have up his sleeves but she would not want to try to learn all the colors of magic like he did. 

Josh was indeed very proud of himself for in 3 years, he had become a rainbow mage. Though Serran magic is mainly white, Josh was able to acquired many spell books of other magical colors from the their neighbor, the Zhalfirin. His magical growth was also contributed to the fact that he was a magic player. Using the cards he remembered as a template, he was able to increase his trove of spell drastically. The only thing Josh really needed now is a large cache of mana. The Serran city is on the Daraja Plain, which means he can draw vast amounts of white mana from it. His problem then is how to draw mana of the other four colors of magic. He decided to convince Roran to venture with him to Kukemssa Sea then to the Mwonvuli Jungle. Roran loved the idea. He was very bored and longed for some real adventure. Together, they set off to see the world. 


	2. chapter 2

Chapter 2: More Than They Bargain For

_Dear Journal, _

_ We're making a break for it tonight! Even though it is forbidden to leave without permission, I think we could still leave the city without problems. We have been planning this for weeks and I think we got it all figure out. Tonight, Roran and I will sit on some of the high building like we usually do. On normal days, we just sit and enjoy the night sky. Tonight, the sky wouldn't be so clear for I will cast the spell "fog". Roran told me that this time of year, fog occurred often, so for me to cast fog will not cause anyone to suspect anything. When the fog rolls in, we will gather our supplies and Roran will carry us far outside the city. Just to make sure our trip is a successful one, I also prepare a levitation spell to aid Roran. He said he can handle the weight but we have to fly for at least a league away from the city or else the sentries will spot us. I hope tonight is a success! I don't want to remain in this city and wait for the invasion to come! _

Josh Mitchell 

About 4 miles outside the city, Josh and Roran could see the fog around their home began to lift just a little. Luckily, natural fog that normally occurred rolled in that night so Josh didn't have to spend too much effort on his fog spell. It took more effort than he thought to levitate their supplies outside the city. Once they were sure they couldn't be spotted, the 2 friends hugged, danced, and laughed like children. Fueled by adrenaline, the 2 of them walked and flew for the rest of the night. When the sun began to peak out of the horizon, the pair was a short distant from the sea. They were exhausted by that time and went right to sleep.

Josh was rudely awakened by someone poking his chest. He slowly opened his eyes to find Karra kneeling over him with a stern look on her face. Startled, Josh turned to Roran and shook his friend until the sleeping angel woke up. When Roran open his eyes and saw his sister, he freaked out.

"What are you doing here? Is father with you? Did you follow us?" He took a second to try to calm down and continue with, "Go home!"

"Hey, I have every right to be here! Who are you to tell me what to do? You're not father! So what if I follow you here? You can't make me go home!" replied Karra.

"I'm your brother and I can tell you what to do. So go home! It's too dangerous out here!" Roran grab Karra and pushed her in the direction of the city.

Karra turned around and push her brother back. They continued to argue like Josh wasn't even there. Seeing that he was not needed, he excused himself from the pair and made his way to the beach.

The sandy shore of the Kukemssa Sea was so peaceful. Josh spent about half an hour to drink in the scenery as well as all the mana associated with it. By then, his stomach was growling but he hated to have to go back to squabbling siblings just to get some food. From his side pocket, Josh pull out his deck of magic cards and select the Aven Fisher card. Calling upon the power of the sea, he channeled the blue mana into the card. Energy surged from the card to create a bird in humanoid form holding a wooden spear. He ordered the Aven to go get for him some fishes and it readily obeyed. Josh relaxed as its feathery body surged out to sea with its massive wings flapping.

Looking at his deck, he remembered the morning he left his house to walk in the woods. His mind was so disorganized that he grabbed a deck of random cards instead of a real deck of cards. It turn out his absent-mindedness was very useful for he was able to use the random cards to base some good spells on. Not only that, all spells he learned thus far he transformed them into mental cards. He organized them the same way he organized his cards in real life. He placed all mental cards into 9 slots plastic sleeves and placed them in the giant folder within his mind. Whenever he needed a spell, he simply flipped through his mental folder and recovered a spell the same way he would get a card he needed in life.

Josh was so focus on his cards that he didn't noticed the birdman had already returned with 3 plump fishes. He took the wooden spear with the fishes from the Aven and recalled the creature back into his card. He spent the next 10 minutes gathering some dry wood. With a simple gesture, he cast Flare on the kindling and began to roast the fishes. Minutes later, he looked up and smiled when he saw the sibling had made their way to his fishes and both were drooling. Josh handed each angel a fish and they devoured it like a pair of wild mongrel. He guess arguing took a lot of people, even angels.

After finishing their late lunch, the pair of angels was quiet. Josh broke the silence and offered Karra some water and asked her if she wanted to join them on their journey. Roran quickly objected saying that it was too dangerous for someone as inexperienced as she was. That started another argument. Josh couldn't afford to let this go on, so he interjected.

"Enough already! You both are driving me crazy!" that finally brought silence back to the beach. "Look! If Karra wanted to join us, you can't stop her Roran! However, if she wanted to go back, we'll both escort her back then continue on our way." Josh said calming down. "In the end, it is still her choice-not yours, Roran."

"Now there is a man of reason!" Leaning over, Karra gave Josh a kiss. "Now I'm going with you two whether you like it or not."

Outvoted 2 to 1, knowing this is a battle he could not win, Roran began picking up their supplies and the trio headed east. By their seventh day of travel, they finally reach the swamps at the edge of the Daraja Plains. It felt great to all of them to be able to bath in the river water and refreshed themselves as well as restocked their supplies before entering the Mwonvuli Jungle. During their travel, Josh noticed that despite their constant arguing, the Lawbringer siblings care for each other greatly. Karra had also warmed up to Josh and she began to talk to him on a regular basis. They spent the next day flying over the swamplands and entered the Jungle. Josh was able to draw invaluable amount of black mana from the swamps as well as red manna from the overlooking mountain range.

By nightfall, the trio was more than a league into the jungle. They set up camps and get ready to turn in for the night. Karra was sitting next to Josh discussing some methods of how to organized spells. Roran would sometime interject telling the pair that a sword is better than a spell any day. Josh would laugh then threw a ball of light in the angel's face blinding him and made his eyelids flutter rapidly. That got a big laugh from Karra as well.

"You know, we're missing a really big event by leaving," Karra said still smiling. "The planeswalker, Teferi, is visiting our city right now. I heard many legends about him from the Zhalfirin and I wish I could see him in person."

"What's the big deal?" said Roran while still munching on a rabbit. "He's just an immortal wizard."

"That's where you're wrong Roran," said Josh while getting some stews. "A planeswalker is as close to a god as one can get. Do all of you remember the story of Dominarian Ice Age?" Waiting until his companions nodded, Josh continued. "The ice age was caused by the planeswalker, Urza. It was finally brought to an end by another planeswalker name Freyalise. So as you can see, their powers are unimaginably vast."

Josh got a response from his comment, but not one he expected. From the direction of the swamps, he heard what sounded like a very low moan. More and more similar moans follow. Quickly his companions rose and drew their weapon. Karra was quick to cast a blinding light spell to reveal a horrible sight. From the swamps rose hundreds upon hundreds of undead corpses. They had successfully surrounded the trio and poised to attack. Fearing the worst, Karra cast a black ward spell upon herself and she readied more spells for use. Josh was the only one weaponless but he needed no weapon. Drawing on the power of the forest, he let loose his first spell. From his chest, a wild mongrel sprang out ready for battle.

In unison, the undead eyes all glow red and every one of them rush in to attack the Serrans. Roran's warrior skills allowed him to expertly dispatch any zombies that attacked him. Karra magic enhanced fighting skill make quick work of the first set of onrushing ghouls. Josh was the only one without any fighting skills and his mongrel was quickly being overwhelmed. Determined to save his summoned creature, Josh sacrificed 4 spells to enhance his mongrel to 4 times its normal strength. Letting go of his own sanity for a minute, Josh was able to recovered his sacrificed spells and cast them all.

Unleashing his Fury Temper spell, 2 pulses of heat surged out of Josh's eyes and roasted 2 oncoming skeletons. From his hands, 2 large lizards hopped out completing his Basking Rootwalla spells. His last recovered spell spewed from his mouth. A stream of green mist flew out and formed into a giant worm with a very large mouth and a gruesome set of serrated teeth. Though they were vastly outnumbers, Roran felt very confident in their chance of victory now that he finally saw the true strength of both his sister and his best friend.

Unknown to trio, they were being watch by a being who's power could challenge the gods. This mighty planeswalker was simply tormenting the trio hoping to see the terror on their faces. Despite of terror, they fought back and it amused her. She stopped being amused when she saw the young human wizard not only cast spells he sacrificed, but also cast those spells using less mana than required for such spells. In fact, his Basking Rootwalla spell cost him almost no mana at all to cast. Never in her many thousand of years of life had she seen such efficient use of magic. Determined to find the secret of such wonderful spellcasting, she redoubled her efforts to attack the small band of Serrans.

The group of Serrans was holding their own in this battle until the forest started to uproot itself and joined in the fight. Five trees converged upon their position and their massive limps began to swing in all direction. Karra was caught by surprise during the treefolks first attack. Her brother grabbed her and flew out of reach of the tree branches. Josh was left on the ground by himself to fight against impossible odds. Putting both hands on his chest, Josh created a circle of protection against green magic just in time for the first tree branch to strike. His circle warded off all attacks but it is quickly draining all his mana supply. Desperate, Josh sacrificed 2 more spells to strengthen his mongrel and order it to take down 2 of the attack treefolks. Letting go of his santity once more, he recovered and cast a violent eruption. The sudden burst of fire from the ground caught the other 3 treefolks by surprise and turned them into charcoal.

Roran was having a major problem of his own in the air. A swarm of bats had converged in on his position biting wherever they could. The angel had no choice but to land back down and continued the battle there. Standing back to back with his best friend, Josh summoned a wall of shadow to slow the tide of undead advancing on their position.

Josh's creations were not doing too well against the undead onslaught. Both his Rootwalla lizards were torn to pieces long ago. Despite his giant worm's size and its giant mouth, it too suffered a lot of damage to its body. The worm devoured nearly a hundred undead, but now it was slowly dying. His mongrel suffered a lot of damage as well, but because he sacrificed so many spells to strengthen it, the mongrel is still hanging in the fight.

"I'm running out of mana real fast here Roran." with those words, he summoned a gang of elk to join the battle. "I still got a few more madness spell but I don't want to risk my own sanity. Madness magic is great but it is not worth the risk. How is Karra doing?"

"She's out cold!" Roran punctuated that statement with a backhand slash. "We got to get out of here before something even worst come along."

As though to respond to Roran's statement, a herd of elephants appeared out of nowhere and charged them. Warning Roran that these are his last spells, Josh drew all the mana he can from the land around him. Looking up at the swarm of bats that blanketed the sky, Josh imagined a pine tree in the middle of that swarm. He channeled all the green mana he had, turning pine tree into a Christmas tree. Slowly he enlarged the tree to the size of the Christmas tree he saw in New York. With a flick of his hand, the imaginary tree spun and shot ornaments and magical pine needle in all directions killing the majority of the swarm. Using his last drop of Dominarian mana, Josh launched him and his angel friends into the air and to safety.

Safety doesn't seem to last long in this part of the Jungle. About 5 minutes into the air, chains of black mana leapt out of every direction and tighten around the Serran. Just then Karra awaken to find them all in chain. She opened her mouth to speak when a surged of electricity coursed through those chains and knocked them all unconscious.

**********

Woken up by the smell of sewages was not a way Josh would have chosen to wake up. Slowly he got up and tried to open his eyes. He collapsed once more but this time, he was determined to keep his eyes open. The first thing he saw was a bowl filled with cooked wild rice and a drumstick from some bird. Using what strength he had, he crawled over to the food and scarfed it down. Once the food was gone, he finally noticed the sound of laughter. Discarding his bowl, he looked up to see that he was in a cell. There were 3 men outside the cell. Two of them were dressed like prison guards while the third worn an expensive wizard's robe. From the insignia on the robe, Josh can tell that this mage is an Embermage. All 3 were laughing at him but he ignored it and continued to survey the room. That was when he noticed Roran sitting in a dark corner of the prison.

The food had done wonder for Josh for he felt most of his strength was back. Slowly, the young mage approach his best friend. In all their time together, never had he seen Roran so depressed and defeated. Sitting with his face between his legs, he had his arms and angel wings wrapped around his legs turning him into a ball. That was when he noticed something important was missing; Karra was not there.

Bringing himself face to face with Roran, Josh asked, "Where is Karra?"

The question seemed only to throw Roran into a deeper depression as he used his wings to cover his own face. That was when the mage in the expensive robe stood up and laughed even more.

"I'll tell you where Karra is. She is in a compost heap outside of this building." The fat Embermage continue to laugh.

Still in somewhat of a dazed, Joshed was puzzled and asked, "Why would you put her there?"

All 3 men outside the cell seemed surprised by the question and all of them roared into a fit of laughter. That was when Roran grabbed Josh's hand and pull Josh down next to him.

For the first time, Roran spoke, "Karra is dead, Josh. That's why they threw her in with the compost."

Josh's eyes grew wide with shock, "bbbbut…" That was all he could say until he calmed himself down. "Roran, please tell me what happen." Josh then closed his eyes and braced himself for the tale. It didn't come.

Roran was back in his balled up position feeling sorry for himself. There was silence until the fat mage spoke up.

"I'll tell you what happen," said the Embermage. "Our goddess captured you from the edge of the Mwonvuli Jungle. She saw your strange brand of magic which you call 'madness magic'. Seeing that the female angel and you were the only magic user, our goddess decided to 'interrogate' the female first. She was not very cooperative even under our goddess many methods of persuasion." Josh knew full well he meant torture. "She even went so far as to talk back to our goddess and spat in her face." Still laughing slightly, the fat mage continue. "Our goddess in her infinite wisdom simply reached into the angel's chest and ripped her little heart out."

With a flash, Roran was on his feet and rushing at the bars trying to get to the Embermage's throat. Chuckling, the mage sent a bolt of lightning at the bars electrocuting the angel and sending him back a few feet. Josh called on his memory of the Kukemssa Sea to draw power for his spell, but the mana never came. Confused, Josh watched Roran roaring like a mad man and rushed against the bars only to be electrocuted again. This time, Josh had just about enough. Reaching into his pant's pocket, he pulled his gun out and shot the Embermage right through the heart. The guards, fearing Josh's strange magical weapon, rushed through the prison door to find reinforcement.

Roran was still screaming until Josh grabbed hold of the angel and pull him back from the bars. Looking directly into the angel's eyes, Josh spoke, "save your anger for avenging Karra's death. It's useless to rage until we are out of here."

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Roran laugh out loud. "You must still be dreaming if you think we have a chance of getting out. I think you noticed by now you can't cast spell. This cell stops anyone from drawing mana from Dominaria. For all your magical knowledge, you can't do a thing. Plus, our enemy is a planeswalker! How in the nine hells will we be able to get revenge?"

Looking around the room, Josh noticed a sheet of paper on one of the far corner. The paper seems to call to him and he picked it up. "Let me worry about a way out," said Josh with confident. "What is this planeswalker's name? Where is she now?"

"She left to attack our city; to force the secret of 'madness magic' out of our people." Calming down, Roran said, "She called herself Geyadrone Dihada." Shaking his head, Roran continued, "Don't fool yourself into thinking of revenge. I see the fear in your eyes when I said the name."

"I wouldn't lie. I'm very much afraid of her because I know what she's capable of." Pausing to read the second line on the paper he's holding, Josh recognized the words to be the prophecy left by the Oracle _en_-Vec. "Regardless, we got to get back to our city and save it. That's the right thing to do. That's what Karra would want us to do."

Shaking his head still, Roran said, "Don't you think I know that? Right now, we have to save ourselves first. I have no weapon and you are powerless!"

Just then, another wizard walked in with the 2 guards who ran off earlier. Ignoring them, Josh continued to look over the prophecy for clue of how they could escape. He doubted the Oracle left this little parchment here for no reason. Then it dawned on him! The line "With earthly might, freedom is found" mean he had been drawing power from the wrong place. If he couldn't draw mana from Dominaria, theoretically, he could still draw power from his home planet of Earth.

After examining the dead mage, this new mage turned to Josh and ask, "How did you kill him when your magic is confined?"

"Very simple," Josh smiled. "I did it like this!" Calling on the mana from the Grand Canyon, Josh unleashed his spell with a simple word: "Decimate".

The torrent of green and red mana from Josh's spell shattered the cell bars. It continued on to break the new mage's protective wards, then destroyed his mana source, and finally took his life. Once the dust caused by his spell was clear, Josh noticed that Roran was holding his magna sword and the 2 guards laid dead by Roran's feet.

Roran walk over to Josh and ask, "How will we get back to the city in time? That planeswalking witch said she was attacking at nightfall and the sun is already down."

Holding his friend's shoulder, Josh said, "I might have a way but the spell is experimental. The spell is design to send its target home. But be warned, it is not a safe spell at all."

"Do you think I care? Cast your spell now!" Roran yell.

Calling on powers from the Pacific Ocean, Josh cast Withdraw on both of them. The spell rocketed them back to their beloved city in mere seconds. When they open their eyes again, deaths were all they saw.


	3. Power Struggle

Chapter 3: Power Struggle

_Dear Journal! _

_ That night was the most terrifying night of my entire life. I have never seen so much death and destruction as the night when Geyadrone attacked us. I can still see the image of the Daraja Plain being littered with corpses from both armies. The horrible part was seeing the fallen Serran rise again as zombies to serve Geyadrone. I think seeing their dead friends and comrades as undead truly demoralized the Serran army and that probably is the reason why we suffered so many deaths. It was a good thing Teferi was there to lend a hand or else we would have lost this war quickly. The destruction here was horrible but the destruction caused by the Phyrexian will be a thousand times worse. Frankly, I'd rather not stay around to see it. _

_Josh Mitchell_

The Daraja Plain once so beautiful was now littered with corpses. The horrific part of all was the fact that those corpses walked and fought. Geyadrone's surprise attack was very successful in killing hundreds of Serrans during the first few minutes. Responding, the plainswalker Teferi launched his own counter attack against her and he was able to contain her assault. But then, the Serrans who were killed by Geyadrone's aerial attack began to rise. Many Serrans stared at the corpses in disbelief. Others could not bear to fight against those who were once their friend and/or family. That moment of hesitation cost them their lives. Those newly slain Serrans too rose once again to seek out their love ones and add their family and friends to the rank of undead.

From two hundred feet in the air, Roran and Josh can see all the carnage unfolding. From outside, an army of wolves and humans were rushing into the city to help add more Serrans to the army of undead. Leading the army was a massive beast that bashed opened the main gate with just his club. The onrush was met with heavy resistance from the Serran ground forces. From the high vantage point, it looks like the Serrans were doing well for themselves, but in truth, they were losing. The beast, which Josh recognized as Sol'Kanar the Swamp King, was slaughtering the Serrans.

In the air, Serran angels were fighting a desperate battle against a host of vampires. Roran, still enraged, charged into battle at full speed leaving Josh to fight alone once again. Josh was content to take a moment to watch these two powerhouses battle it out. Geyadrone, calling on her ancient powers, unleashed another horde of specters to add to her already massive aerial army. But in this battle, she was not the only one with titanic powers. The moment her specters appeared, Teferi's Time Elementals erased them from existence. Raising his hands high, Teferi summoned a flock of his wyverns and sent all of them for a direct attack against Geyadrone. As the wyverns neared, Geyadrone activated her enchantment to create a strong downdraft sending all the wyverns plummeting to the ground. Waving her hands, she countered Teferi's attack by sending her own endless stream of bats against him. With a thought, Teferi called forth a wall of swords to slice all bats into pieces. The two plainswalkers were through with simple spells. Calling upon their full godly power, they launched massive sorceries at each other and turned the night as bright as day.

With his massive club, Sol'Kanar charged right through the Serran resistances, batting away anyone who dare oppose him. Even the Serran's strongest warriors were crushed from just one blow of his club. Sol'Kanar charged onward like an unstoppable juggernaut killing any opposition. Even the angels in the air were not safe from him. With his incredible strength, Sol'Kanar would grab and launch Serrans into the air to strike down any angels near him. The Serran wizards, as well as Teferi's wizards, tried every spell they can think of to stop Sol'Kanar, but every spell seemed to bounce off him harmlessly.

Then, Sol'Kanar suddenly stopped in his track. He lowered his club and the fire in his eyes slowly began to burn out. The wizard guild all stared in amazement at their leader, Bosia, as he continued to channel more power into his crown. It was said that Bosia received the Crown of the Ages as a gift when he first arrived on Dominaria, but no one had ever seen him used it until today. Seeing the unstoppable beast frozen in its tracks gave heart to the Serran army and they rallied to push the invaders back. It didn't last. From out of the sky, Geyadrone sent a pulse of green energy at Sol'Kanar and her champion was back on his feet. Jumping forty feet into the air, Sol'Kanar raised his club high and smashed Bosia and his crown into a big blood puddle on the pavement upon landing. Without Bosia's leadership, the mages scattered in all directions to avoid Sol'Kanar's wrath.

From up high, Josh spotted Master Mage Angelica and descended to help her. As Josh got closer, he could see that the master mage need no help. Flanked by two Serran mages and two of Teferi's mage, they expertly destroyed any invader near them. Josh landed a few feet away from the group only to have Angelica unleash a bolt of light at him. Skillfully, Josh deflected the bolt to a nearby wolf, frying it. As Josh turned back to face his teacher, Angelica's eyes lit up with recognition and gave the young man a big hug.

Scolding, Angelica asked, "Where have you, Roran, and Karra been? You had all of us so worried about you." Slowly her face softened and said, "I'm glad you're safe though my boy."

"Master Mage Angelica, the other mages still don't have a way of stopping that beast," dressing in a simple blue rope, a dark skinned, baldheaded mage continued. "With Bosia gone, we need you to lead us. We need a course of action now! Please!"

Holding both her hands, Josh spoke loud enough so everyone will hear. "The beast is called Sol' Kanar the Swamp King. The only thing strong enough to defeat it is a strong summoning using black plus white magic and using blue magic to bridge the two colors. I have one such summon spell, but I will need everyone's mana."

"That is absurd! I refuse to believe he has the knowledge to cast such a spell. Even if he was able to, the creature will have black mana in its makeup, which makes it untrustworthy to defend us. We can't trust our lives to this child," said a Serran mage.

"He's right child," said Angelica. "Tell us more. Convince us!"

"Look! We'll be summoning a replica of Sol'Kanar's archenemy. The only being strong enough to beat Sol'Kanar is Dakkon Blackblade!"

Josh didn't have time to finish his speech as Sol'Kanar roared at the mention of his archenemy's name. The anger in him was showing through as all of his muscles flexed and grew bigger. Leaping high into the air, Sol'Kanar wanted to smash Josh like he had smashed Bosia earlier. The terrifying sight of Sol'Kanar's massive frame falling on him froze Josh in place. He could only look up in terror knowing this was his last moment of life. Then out of nowhere, pair of feet suddenly slammed hard into Sol'Kanar's chest, sending the beast smashing through a wall six hundred feet away. The force of the impact had broken both of Roran's legs but he would gladly do it again to save his best friend's life.

Seeing Sol'Kanar's reaction was enough to convince the mages to help bring Josh's summoning to life. Josh can feel the tremendous mana flowing through him from the other master mages. Knowing his time was short; he began reading the words of Dakkon Blackblade memoir. "My power is as vast as the plains, my strength is that of mountains, each wave that crashes up the shore thunders like blood in my veins."

Sol'Kanar was already on his feet and making a mad dash toward the group of wizard. Crashing through and killing all who block his path, be it friends or foes. All he cared about is killing the mages before their summoning was complete. In minutes he was upon the mages. With his club on his right shoulder, Sol'Kanar made a full force swing intending on killing all mages with one hit.

The club stopped an inch short of hitting the group. A shield of gold and black solidly connected with the club and absorbed the blow. Looking up, Sol'Kanar saw the pearly white smile of Dakkon Blackblade right before Dakkon brought his shield crashing into Sol'Kanar's face sending the beast back a few steps.

Dakkon was an impressive warrior, a legend out of the storybooks. His mere presence gave pause to everyone who laid eyes upon him. Standing tall with a sword of strange black metal and a shield of gold and black, Dakkon was able to turn back any attack made on him. His gray armor and helmet seemed to hide his entire body with the exception of his burning red eyes and pearly white smile. Sol'Kanar was now holding his club with both hands. It was amazing that this massive creature with a pair of horns bending forward and a hunched back can move so fast. It moved with incredible precision to dodge and block all attacks by Dakkon and retaliate the attacks. Both man and beast were of equal match for no one could score a solid hit upon one another.

Both plainswalkers were quite tired from their duel. Geyadrone being older than old was surprised that Teferi, being relatively young was able to match her spell for spell. Even Teferi himself, being only nearly two millennia old, was surprised he was able to stand up to her. Both were about to continue their duel when they saw the battle below. Recognizing Dakkon, Geyadrone unleashed a Soul Burn spell, intended to kill the Dakkon where he stand. The spell simply dissipated moments before it reach Dakkon. Yelling out, Teferi said, "leave the mortals to their battle! You still have me to contend with!"

Irritated, Geyadrone commanded her dark elves to come out of hiding and deal with Dakkon. That was a foolish move on her part for no matter what her elves do, it could not stop Dakkon. As more Serran mages and Teferi's mages converged on Josh and his group, they channeled their own memories of the lands, making Dakkon a fearsome force. The memories allowed Dakkon to access the mana of those lands directly and let his might grow with every passing second. Dakkon could feel the mana from Urborg swamps solidifying his body in darkness making him stronger than ever. Memories of Teferi's Isle allowed him to move with incredible speed to score some quick slashes on Sol'Kanar's body. The mana of the Daraja Plain was most effective of all for it powered up his armor, making him untouchable by the dark elves' spells.

Realizing her mistake, Geyadrone ordered her dark elves to launch an all out assault against Josh and his group of mages instead. Using some of his last counter spells, Teferi was able to stop all the elven magical attacks. This also gave the Serran mages a golden opportunity. With the dark elves being in the open, they were vulnerable to a direct assault and the Serrans intended to make the most of it.

Calling on the might of Serra herself, the Serran Mages cast their power to the heavens and waited. Right above the dark elves, clouds gathered and formed the graceful face of Serra. The elves looked up in wonder at the beautiful face formed above them. The face seemed to smile a merciful smile as light poured down on them. The dark elves had never felt such love as they were feeling while being bathed in Serra's light. They happily lifted their heads to heaven as their bodies were reduced to dust. With the dark elves gone, the reanimation spell they maintained lost its effect. The undead slowly dropped and return to their former stage of being simply dead.

Sol'Kanar was doing poorly now as his body began to weaken against Dakkon's constant attacks. Every step Dakkon took, Sol'Kanar could only stepped back and tried to avoid being killed. Every time Sol'Kanar avoided an attack, Dakkon had already moved into another attack and scored a good hit on him. After an hour of battling, Sol'Kanar's critically injured body gave out. With one powerful spin cut, Dakkon took off his head.

"Geyadrone, you soulless bitch! I'm coming for you next!" yelled Dakkon.

"Come and get me you cheap imitation!" laughed Geyadrone. "You can't even get up here!"

In answer to her challenge, Teferi's mages cast Flight on Dakkon, sending him rocketing at Geyadrone. Josh frantically tried to stop Dakkon but he was too late. Not knowing what else to do, he told his fellow mages about Geyadrone's downdraft enchantment. The Serrans focused the last of their mana into destroying her enchantment but it was too late. Seconds before Dakkon could attack, Geyadrone activated her enchantment to disabled his flying ability and created a strong downdraft sending Dakkon plummeting to the ground. Though the enchantment was destroyed, the mages could not do anything but watch as their champion came crashing down on the battlefield outside the city. The force of impact created a crater a few miles wide killing anything within its radius. Though nearly exhausted, Geyadrone was driven by her hatred of Dakkon. She forced the land to seal the crater and made sure Dakkon Blackblade could never be resurrected to haunt her again.

While Geyadrone was busy with Dakkon, a chorus of angels had congregated around Teferi to revitalize the planeswalker. This also gave Teferi enough time to gather power for an all out battle with the ancient planeswalker. Out of nowhere, he felt a tap on his shoulder. To his left, there was a warrior angel whose legs were broken. The angel gave him what looked like a card and said that his friend Josh told him to bring this spell to the Teferi and end this war permanently. Intrigued, Teferi absorbed the strange language on the card and read in English, "Serra Avatar". Smiling brightly, the plainswalker grabbed Roran and placed the angel in front of him.

As energy coursed through Teferi's fingers and traveled into Roran, he began to explain. "This spell of your friend's allows me to make an incarnation of myself that reflects my inner might. However, knowing that Gayedrone killed your sister earlier, I thought it would be appropriate that you become my avatar instead. You, young angel, are now a reflection of my power. Use it to avenge your sister and bring justice to all those who have been slain in this battle."

Roran now radiated light from every pore of his body. His eyes glowed as blue as the endless sea. Within those eyes, ocean waves made of mana can be seen coursing through him. Outwardly, his body glowed like a new sun threatened to burn away any eyes that dared to look directly at him. Giving Teferi a knowing smile, Roran charged at full speed at his sister's Murderer. Geyadrone was not prepared for this much resistance against her force and she was nearly spent. Gathering what was left of her mana, she launched everything at the anger-driven angel charging at her. The dark bashing spells would have killed the angel instantly but not this time. This time Roran, with his iridescent sword, easily deflect all of the spells thrown at him. In a little over a minute, Roran traversed the distance and was right beside the hated planeswalker. Using every ounce of his strength, he struck Geyadrone with an overhead blow shattering her protective aura. Recovered and moving at blinding speed, Roran sliced the planesswalker into six pieces. Geyadrone had been a plague and darkness over the land. Roran was glad to be the light that dissipated the darkness and bring hope back to his people. Like real darkness, Geyadrone's body hung in the air and dissolved before Roran's radiance.

Seeing their goddess destroyed, many of the invaders fled the battle. As Roran led five choruses of angels and swooped down onto the fields, many other humans dropped their weapons and surrendered before Roran's all consuming light. Most of the vampires and specters simply turned to dust as Roran got near them and they too fled for what was left of their existence. In less than half an hour, the battle was over. All that remained was to kill the wolves and the wild animals summoned here by Geyadrone.

By the next dawn, some order was finally restored to the city. Using Roran as a beacon of hope, the Serrans rallied to quickly cleanse the city of invaders. By midmorning, the avatar spell of Teferi had burned out and Roran was restored to the way he was. The first tally of causalities estimated that around three thousand Serrans had died, and Sol'Kanar alone killed eight hundred of them. With more than one thousand prisoners of war, the jailhouses were too overcrowded due to the sudden influx. A small camp was built just outside of the city for the main purpose of holding these prisoners.

Within the city, healers were scattered in all directions trying to save whoever they could. Many angels of mercy were assigned as combat medics and their main job was to seek out and rescue anyone with life threatening injuries and provide immediate aids. Most able-bodied ground units were assigned to clear the streets and help the medics. Only a few hundred angels were assigned to guard duties. Their job was to simply circle around the prison camp and intimidate the prisoners. By the next nightfall, all corpses were cleared out of the city and were given proper burials. The corpses all went through the cleansing ritual to prevent them from being resurrected again. By then, everyone was exhausted and all of the work to rebuild the city was pushed back.

By the 5th day after the battle, reinforcements from Zhalfir finally arrived. Teferi was there to greet the Zhalfirin general and informed him of what they could do to help the Serran. On the 8th day, all wreckage was cleared out and the people headed for the outside of Serra's Cathedral.

"Today we honor those who have fallen in defense of Serra and her children," Said Priestess Oresta. "They have given their lives to protect us all from those who would destroy us. May they find their way to Serra and once again be within her glory."

All who were assembled lowered their heads in honor of the fallen. Then in the priestess place stood Master Mage Angelica who was recently elected to be the leader of the Serran guild mage. "Today we are also here to honor those who fought bravely in the face of adversity. If it were not for them, our city would have fallen that night." Angelica turned the floor over to Teran Lawbringer, Roran's father. Unfolding a parchment, he began to read the list of names of those who acted valiantly in battle and they were honored by being given a silver feather. Teferi was also honored but he had asked that the Serran leaders not give him anything but to promise to protect Dominaria. They gladly agreed.

"And finally we now honor those whose courage and understanding truly saved the day," Said Teran. "First we honor Josh Mitchell, a mage whose knowledge and creativity enabled us to defeat Sol'Kanar the Swamp King. Though he broke many laws by practicing more than just white magic, we are glad he did or else we would all have been lost. We honor you with this golden feather."

Josh bowed before the crowd and accepted the feather. It was actually a feather embedded within an oval piece of glass. On the bottom was an image of Serra holding both her hands out as if to bless whoever holds the feather.

"Finally we honor my son, Roran Lawbringer. His courage and commitment to protecting his people inspired us all that night. He was our guide in the darkest moment of the night. Without his light and leadership, we would have suffered much more casualties. We honor you with this golden feather."

Roran stood up and accepted. His father smiled and continued, "and as a surprise, we chose to break tradition and elevate Roran to the rank of Archangel." The people cheered as Roran accepted the honor but Roran was not happy. In his mind, he had earned this rank at the cost of his sister's life.


End file.
